SONNET 22

My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
So long as youth and thou are of one date;
But when in thee time's furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.
For all that beauty that doth cover thee
Is but the seemly raiment of my heart,
Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me:
How can I then be elder than thou art?
O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary
As I, not for myself, but for thee will;
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.
Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;
Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again.

NOTES

XXII. The poet can see some traces of advancing age when he looks in a mirror; but he is united so closely to his friend, that he will not believe that he is himself old, while his friend is in the bloom of youthful beauty. They have exchanged hearts. In what is said of the poet's heart being slain, Professor Dowden sees some
indication of a wrong which had been committed by the poet's friend. If this view is correct, the wrong (the nature of which is to come out afterwards) must have been committed, it would seem, very soon after the commencement of the friendship.

Granted, Shakespeare gave us more memorable quotes than any other writer, but often he gets credit for the clever quips of other greats, like Ben Franklin and John Milton. Here are some of the most common words of wisdom mistakenly attributed to the Bard.